It hasn’t been easy being a Lakers fan these past couple of days.
First came the news that Bob “Disney” Iger and Joshua “Privatize The World Cup” Kushner bought out Mark "Ruined the Dodgers For Everyone By Holding Investments in Detention Centers" Walter’s majority shares in the team for nearly $13 billion.
Then came the double whammy of the Buss Family Trust (aka the trust of deceased former owner Dr. Gerald “Jerry” Hatten Buss for his six surviving children) selling, but then actually not selling, their collection of shares.
“As you know, this afternoon, Shams Charania of ESPN falsely reported that the six Buss siblings voted to sell the 17.8% ownership stake in the Lakers to Josh Kushner and Bob Iger, and that my client, Jeanie Buss, is ‘out’ as controlling owner,” wrote attorney Adam Streisand, who represents Jeanie, the team governor of the Lakers.
“This is just the latest instance of a years-long pattern whereby Joey and Jesse Buss leak false, defamatory and pernicious ‘information’ to Mr. Charania for the malicious purpose of doing harm to the Los Angeles Lakers so long as Dr. Buss’s chosen successor, Jeanie Buss, carries out her father’s wishes,” Streisand continued, referring to the long-time friction between his client and her half-brothers.
The continued infighting between the Buss siblings and the impending sale, which still needs to be approved by the NBA, have left fans reeling with too many emotions to count. There was a time when it felt unthinkable to even consider that the team would leave the hands of the Buss family, but the recent drama has shown that change may come soon, leaving fans to wonder what will happen to their beloved team.
More importantly, will the Lakers still be an L.A. team after any potential changes in ownership, in both the literal and metaphorical sense of the phrase?
“It will change that true L.A. feel because it feels like we got bought by private equity,” lifelong fan Kenneth Taitt tells L.A. TACO by phone. “It seems like we're a private equity, we're a stock exchange team now. It seems like it's going to be plays for the money, as opposed to plays for the win, plays for the culture.”
Beyond the money, Taitt also worries the team will become nothing more than a tool for the new ownership, used for personal and political gain, especially given Kushner’s family connections to the Trump family through his brother Jared’s marriage to Ivanka Trump.
Beyond the money, Taitt also worries the team will become nothing more than a tool for the new ownership, used for personal and political gain, especially given Kushner’s family connections to the Trump family through his brother Jared’s marriage to Ivanka Trump.
“Not only is it a fear of a culture shift in the ownership, but it also is a little bit of a fear that they're going to use the organization to become a tool for their greater causes or their greater message,” he explains.
All this, of course, depends on if the team stays in Los Angeles.
“I think this may open the door to get them to [Las] Vegas,” says Joseph Contreras, a lifelong fan who spoke with L.A. TACO by phone. He has watched the Lakers play at home and on the road, and he has proudly repped his Lakers jerseys and hats in multiple countries worldwide, like many other fans.
“They would probably get a lot of, maybe more flexibility with what they want to do in the city, because that's like taking the [New York] Yankees and putting them in Las Vegas,” he continues. “People would go crazy.”
Contreras hopes the team stays, but even if it does, he’s concerned the new ownership may move things in a direction that kills the luster the team has had for decades, just as Taitt worries the team will lose its essence. Like Taitt, he also wonders what Iger’s and Kushner’s true motivations are for owning the team.
“Is it something that they're looking to monetize, or is it something that they're looking for political influence when they have tickets to games,” he says, “and they can get the right people in the right places because now they got the ticket to one of the best teams in the market?”
Krystal Bianca, host at LatiNation Media and NCTNF and a lifelong Lakers fan, has no doubt about the new ownership group's motivations.
“Josh Kushner wanting to be owner of the Lakers is strictly just a business move, which we know that's what his family and his in-laws are all about. It's all about money. It's all about how can they make more of it,” she tells L.A. TACO by phone.
“They don't care about the city,” she adds. “They don't care about the fans versus the Buss family . . . Jeannie and her dad really cared about the city, really cared about the fans. So then where does that leave us?”
“They don't care about the city,” she adds. “They don't care about the fans versus the Buss family . . . Jeannie and her dad really cared about the city, really cared about the fans. So then where does that leave us?”
One aspect of the Lakers that has set them apart from other NBA teams has been the Buss family’s near 50-year reign behind the team. Jerry Buss bought the team in 1979, and his daughter Jeanie has been in charge of it since his passing in 2013. Buss officially joined the family business in the 1990s, where she got a taste of her current role in 1995 when she was selected to serve as Alternate Governor. She has been a major face of the Lakers since then and was the first woman in the NBA to win a championship as a controlling owner when the Lakers won the title six years ago.
The family trust gives her control of the team for her lifetime, which is how she’s remained the team’s governor despite her family being minority owners since last year—and leaves little room for that to change under specific circumstances.
“I think just being a female, [it’s] iconic that she's been that high-level of such a high-level sports team in a city like Los Angeles,” says Bianca. “This isn't no small market. This is L.A. This is the Lakers, and the fact that her dad left her in charge says a lot, so taking that away is really sad.”
Bianca hopes that Buss can keep control of the Lakers and remain its steward for as long as possible.
“She is a female, and she's standing up to all of these rich white men, and if she can put her foot all the way down, I think that really sets the bar high for her and fighting for this team,” says Bianca. “She knows basketball. She knows the sport. She's lived it her whole entire life.”
Come what may, the Buss family will eventually no longer have their names attached to the Lakers. Fans like Taitt, Contreras, and Bianca agree that whoever comes next should be someone who respects and understands the legacy the Buss family built for the Lakers and maintains a similar energy on the court.
“You need someone that actually understands the culture, understands the team, understands the history, understands the NBA, and the good things about sports in general,” says Taitt, “to come in and, you know, make a profit obviously, but not F it up, per se. We understand it's a business, but don't ruin my childhood!”
